MJL

Great report and good job to the both of you.

My last trip there I managed to see an uber large bowfin, a dozen or so largemouth bass, carp and my first ever sight of a Toronto island smallie but no pike. Good to see they're around albeit in smaller numbers. Definitely looks like it was worth the effort.

Top angling

Good luck with the cleaning of the weigh sling Mike - I don't envy you there!

 

I thought it looked like a good twenty. Out of curiosity what's the weight of the biggest carp you've caught in Ontario and also the Islands?

 

What's the Ontario record - official or unofficial? Just curious to see how big they get over there - supposedly there are some '30's and '40's in my local lakes - can't imagine what they fight like.

 

007

My largest officially weighed fish was 36lb 8oz. Caught it in a small carp tournament in Toronto which helped me win a free carp rod and a few pounds worth of boilies. I have caught 3 other fish to that size (or even slightly bigger) but never weighed.

DSN was with me when I landed this one at the islands. She was never weighed. She put up a great fight both in the water and on shore when we unhooked her.

I keep in touch with a few guides on the St. Lawrence. Apparently a 62lb and 67lb fish were caught a couple years ago not far from Long Sault. I think the official provincial record is around 38lbs or so.

Great catch Rich! Keep trying for the biggy. You'll catch her sooner or later.

Nice job MJL. You put the effor in and were rewarded with two beautifully marked common carp.

 

Congrats. What do you think the second one weighed?

 

007

Gavin, she hit the scales at 27lb even...Which reminds me, I have a weigh sling I seriously need to wash. I'm dreading opening up my hiking pack.

AMAZING report

Congrats on the anniversary. Scenery is simply stunning and the amount of wildlife there is unbelievable. Thanks for sharing.

Yes...At least my dad's Freestone jacket does

Totally awesome Vic! Congrats on Christening it.

Take your girlfriend #1 along next time...You can have a three-some

2 rods each in Lake O for carp.LOL I know Wolfville is thinking about it already.

Did you show a carp to one of the women in a mini skirt??? LOL.

Who do you think took the pics for me

Hey Splashhopper, homemade paste baits work well. I used to use them quite a lot as a kid - Still use them but less so nowadays. With boilies (which are basically an evolved form of the dough-ball/paste bait) , I'm more confident that my bait won't melt away in the current or get picked apart by nuisance fish.

Post up a pic of your rig. Usually changing one thing can dramatically improve your hooking percentage.

Thanks for your kind words.

Totally awesome hauling!

Great report and pics to boot. Well done

Thanks for the report! Sorry to hear it was slow, which is surprising for this time of year.

 

I know this is old school but did you try using a worm? I find its the deadliest bait for spawning carp in shallow bays. Just hook it once and make sure it squigles a lot.

Absolutely right about the worms. In the spring time they account for just under half of my catches. Unfortunately I was too lazy to pick them from the lawn the night before and all the tackle shops in the area were closed at 11pm.

In my experience when they actually start spawning, you're probably better off fishing for something else if you're looking for action. During the pre-spawn it's almost impossible to keep them off the line.

Thanks for your comments guys

Totally awesome catch! They're totally cool looking fish.

WTG MTBF!

Great report Cliff. That muskie is a beauty.

Looks like an amazing trip out. I've never eaten crappies either...Let me know how they taste

I haven’t been online very much the last few weeks - A mix of work + fishing every chance I get (which means weekends from now on).

After a horrible blanking last weekend, I needed to get my carping fix. Without a car this weekend, I was limited to spots around Toronto (or places accessible by public transit).

Decided late Friday night to hit the either the Islands or Harbourfront in the morning. Woke up at 4:20am to stuff 30lbs worth of bait, tackle, raingear, water and food into my hiking pack. Left the house at 5:50am. Got on the 6:15am bus and headed to the subway station. Took the Subway down to Union station and jumped on the street car to get to the ferry docks. Made it just in time for the 7:35 ferry. Throughout the entire trip I had a feeling they were going to be in the midst of spawning…They were.

On my arrival to the islands, I scouted various bays and canals for fish. I managed to catch a glimpse of several cruising fish in one canal but they swam much faster than I could keep up with, trekking through the shrubs and tall grass on shore.

Finally found a few carp in one swim that was a little easier to fish and shrub-free. A lot of the spots I normally fish were not accessible due to the dragon boat races, a volleyball tourney and loads of picnickers - This is actually the first time I fished the Islands on a weekend. I baited up my chosen spot with a small handful of maize, chick peas, maple peas and other small particles and I waited for my first run.

My first fish hit at around 9-9:30am on a single grain of maize. Certainly a nice fish to start my day off with.

12pm I decided to scout a bay which I knew fish usually spawn in. I wasn’t getting any further action at my current location. I was hoping that there would be a few fish willing there to take my bait.

View from the swim. Makes you appreciate the fishing opportunities close to home.

The bay was indeed home to a few hundred fish, all of which were more content in lazily cruising around without stopping over my piles of bait. Some fish were quite beaten up – most likely the results of spawning. I saw one fish that was 35+lbs cruise within stick poking distance but it also ignored my bait.

I spent two and a half hours watching fish cruise mere feet away from my rod tip before swimming off. I tried fishing at different ranges hoping to intercept at least one hungry fish – The thick weeds made it difficult. I also tried float fishing where the bait was presented 6” to 1’ below the surface but still couldn’t interest the fish. I had just about enough of the tease and I returned to the spot I fished earlier in the day.

I saw several new fish in the swim and plunked my rig down into the water. Immediately had one fish take while I was putting the rod onto my banksticks. After a 2min battle, the hook pulled out and I lost it.

I patiently waited another hour and got this one at around 3:30pm

Other pics I managed to take

This thing saw me eating almonds and started pecking me till I gave it one.

Quite a lot of people were fascinated with the clothing optional beach sign. Imagine catching your PB in the nude.

Overall the action was slow. I managed to land 2 out of 3 fish. I fished from 7:45am to 7:30pm. With that said, I still enjoyed the time spent on the bank and the exercise. It was also a warm sunny day which on the Islands means one thing...Mini-skirts and lots of them

Can’t wait to hit the Islands again later this season when the action heats up again.

Hope you enjoyed

Do you know the names of Canadian sites like mudhole?

Can't think of any with the same amount of stock or selection. There are a few in Canada that do mail order. One of those being

http://www.rodbuildersupplies.com/

Hey MJL, what were the shipping costs like?

I've only ordered small items from Mudhole. Whatever I order usually fits in a small box. In my case shipping + customs + whatever brokerage/handling fees the courier billed me turned out to be anywhere from 25-40% of the price of the merchandise. I imagine when ordering over-sized items like rod blanks from the States, expect to have to pay for some form of over-sized handling fee from the courier.

Last year I ordered my dream carp rod blank from another vendor in the States...Shipping turned out to be a lot more than I ever imagined. It's worth checking a few places in Canada to see if they have what you need before ordering from the States.

Recent University grad - Convocation was today

Tutored Managerial Finance part time at my university (still do). Pay is decent for the amount of time spent doing it and helps finance my addiction to high end fishing tackle. Challenging but personally very rewarding.

Currently helping to write DIY manuals on how to assemble and disassemble washing machines and dryers in a language that a grade 6 student would understand. Challenging and boring but the stories you hear about people doing stupid things with dryers keeps me motivated. Hopefully household accidents involving these large appliances will decrease globally because of me.

Dream jobs

- Catalog designer for Sage fly rods or St. Croix rods...Haven't decided yet.

- Fishing rod designer for Harrison advanced rods, Sage or Lamiglas

- Fishing consultant - A consultant to all things fishing

- Jedi Master who uses his powers to abolish evil

I have purchased a number of things from Mudhole (epoxy, reel seats, guides, etc). I normally order from Mudhole when I can't find stuff locally. Service was good and they carry some stuff not found anywhere else. Sometimes they use FedEx and other times they use USPS for international orders in Canada - you'll see it on the online invoice. Wait times range from 3-5 days with FedEx and 3-5wks with USPS. I imagine if you call in, you can specify which option you want to choose. They're the only place in North America that regularly stocks size 40 Fuji SIC double footed guides which I use on my carp rods.

Hope this helps

I've used my dad's 3 piece Frontier and like the action. I believe John Collina (of JC tackle) mentioned on another web-site that the 2pc was designed with more backbone than the 3pc.

On most mid to high end rods sold today, I personally can't feel the difference between 2, 3 and 4 pc rods. I favour multi-piece rods because of all the traveling I do on the bus/subway and small car. IMO, ferrule technology has advanced to the point where I can pick up an entry level 4pc Sage fly rod, a 3pc Lamiglas float rod or a 3pc St. Croix travel spinning rod and not notice flat spots when I flex it or load it up during the cast. The only people I can imagine who might feel the difference are professional rod designers and tournament distance casters like Mark Hutchinson, Terry Edmonds, Steve Rajeff and Jerry Siem whom cast or fish their rods every single day 365 days a year. From my experiences, the 13' 3pc Frontier is a nice smooth rod. The only downside to a 3pc rod is it doesn't break down easily when it's rigged up.

The guides on the 2pc and 3pc frontiers are also different. From my understanding the 3pc uses PacBay SIC's while the 2pc uses Aluminum oxide. If you use braid (which some people run on their pin or spinning reels), aluminum oxide does groove over time.

Hope this helps

I’m just wondering if anyone has ever pulled an overnight fishing session on the Toronto islands before. I love fishing at night for carp but there seems to be an increasing trend for pay parking and night closures at the parks where I fish in the GTA – Plus the rising price of gas doesn’t help either. Is it legal to stay overnight on the islands? I imagine beyond the residents who live there, raccoons and mosquitoes would probably be the only things out during the night (hopefully). There are a few swims on the islands that look absolutely mint for 2am fishing.

Any info is much appreciated

Thanks

AMAZING report Gavin. Absolutely love the pics.

Congrats on finding a nearby lake to fish. I've always wanted to try my hand at some of the fish in the UK like tench, barbel and roach. I would also love to browse some of the tackle shops over there for some new carp gear too. In the future I'd like to visit the UK. It seems like a cool place. There's the guards with the furry hats, deep fried mars bars, people who drive on the wrong side of the road (which I find totally cool), Harry Potter and the list goes on

I was told by a Loomis rep that the Frontier line of blanks were made by Batson Enterprises and assembled in the Canadian Loomis plant. Batson Enterprises manufactures their blanks overseas in Asia while G. Loomis manufactures their blanks in Washington State (cost savings by outsourcing). The 2pc 13' Frontier uses either aluminum oxide or hialoy guides which also lowers the cost of the finished product (Compared to using Fuji SIC's or Recoils).

My dad owns a 3pc frontier and it performs beautifully. It's light and responsive and I have yet to hear him complain about anything. I've only played around with the GLX's in the shop and really can't say anything about their performance.

I don't mean to show up the carpers, sound negative or bump this thread, but $1350 on carp gear is a little ridiculous.

 

You can catch all the carp you'll ever want to catch with any decent rod/reel<$100. Damn, they eat canned corn for cripes sakes. Some say that summer crisp is the key, while other swear by peaches and cream. But most experts agree on DelMonte.

Nothing wrong with owning high-end gear. It can be seen in all areas of the sport

Steelheaders can purchase a custom centerpin + custom float rod for $1700+.

Bass anglers can purchase 1 top of the line Diawa Steez combo for around $1000

Fly anglers can purchase a top of the line House of Hardy combo for $2000

Just because we can catch fish on a combo costing $100 doesn't mean we have to

Great report and pics. Thanks for sharing

What kind of bugs are they?

I'm speechless...Simply amazing Clive

i think iwas getting a "little excited" with the hits tonight as i had my little girl with me and I really wanted to get one on the line for her try and bring in...

 

I kept trying to set the hook like it was a rainbow.... too quick on the draw i think ?

 

the two i got on though did just as u both said, grabbed the bait and raaaannnnnnn! lol

 

i am gonna try again on Wednesday and friday night for a few hours.

 

right now i am just using bread balls and am getting lots of hits... no corn balls yet,,, might try "spam" too! lol

 

any thoughts for these Lake Erie trib carp ?

Pretty much carp will take anything edible. I've caught carp on (in no particular order) canned corn, maize, bread, doughbaits (various recipes), worms, roe, chick peas, maple peas, boilies (in various flavours), peanuts, corn pops or puffs (can't remember the cereal), rubber corn, jumbo corn, carp pellets + other baits I can't remember.

With meaty or fishy baits, you usually end up getting a lot of bullheads or channel cats instead. Carp will take Spam...It's actually what a lot of anglers in the UK and Europe use